November 25, (THEWILL) – The Ekiti State House of Assembly has said the impeachment of Gboyega Aribisogan, as Speaker of the House, is irreversible.
Adeoye Aribasoye, the new Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Publicity, declared the position of the lawmakers in a statement on Thursday night.
THEWILL reported that 17 lawmakers of the Assembly had on Monday, impeached Aribisogan, as Speaker of the House of Assembly, six days after he was elected into the position.
Seven eminent Ekiti lawyers, who are of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) rank, called for the reinstatement of Aribisogan, declaring the act as “ill-conceived, illegal, null and void.”
The SANs, including Afe Babalola, Wole Olanipekun, Dele Adesina, Olu Daramola, Femi Falana, Dayo Akinlaja and Gboyega Oyewole, on Wednesday night, issued a statement and called for his immediate reinstatement.
The senior lawyers also said that Mrs Bunmi Adelugba, elected as Speaker after Aribisogan’s impeachment should stop parading herself as the new Speaker.
However, in a swift reaction, the lawmakers said, contrary to the impression created by the seven SANs, the removal of Aribisogan had come to stay and that the new Speaker, Mrs Bunmi Adelugba, shall remain in office.
“The attention of the Ekiti State House of Assembly has been drawn to a letter circulating on social media written by a combination of Senior Advocates of Nigeria.
“The letter is about the concern of the legal luminaries, led by Aare Afe Babalola, about the recent change of leadership in the Ekiti State House of Assembly, leading to the impeachment of Rt. Hon Gboyega Aribisogan, who was replaced with Rt. Hon. Olubunmi Adelugba.
“We recognise the right of the legal luminaries, as stakeholders in Ekiti State and we respect their opinions and advice, but that is where it ends.
“We wish to let the reading public know that members of Ekiti State House of Assembly feel a sense of injustice by the one-sided opinion and biased intervention of the legal luminaries, who are also elder statesmen.
“The principle of justice all over the world is that all sides to a conflict must be heard and it is only then that justice can be seen to have been done”, the statement said.
It added that the elder statesmen did not hear from the side of the new Speaker and the remaining 16 members, who impeached the former Speaker, Rt. Hon. Gboyega Aribisogan and elected Rt. Hon. Olubunmi Adelugba.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Rt. Hon. Olubunmi Adelugba remains the validly elected Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly and she enjoys the support of an overwhelming majority of the Honourable members, party leadership, and the government of Ekiti State.
“Therefore, the advice of the legal luminaries that Rt. Hon. Olubunmi Adelugba, who was duly elected by 17 members should stop parading herself as the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, is unwarranted and we believe this is based on wrong information by the impeached Speaker.”
The lawmakers said the House has neither breached any section of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, nor its own Standing Rules concerning the impeachment of Aribisogan, and the election of Adelugba.
The statement further explained that on Monday, Aribisogan was duly served an impeachment notice and was thereafter, impeached by two-thirds members of the whole House.
“We, however, wish to remind our legal luminaries that when a serious infraction of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was committed during the PDP administration of Gov. Ayodele Fayose, where seven members impeached the then Speaker, Adewale Omirin, we didn’t see a convergence of legal luminaries condemning the action.
“This same Aribisogan was equally suspended by the fifth Assembly during the tenure of Gov. Fayose, but there was no whimper from our legal luminaries.
“We wish to reinstate that peace has returned to the Ekiti State House of Assembly since the inordinately ambitious Speaker was impeached and suspended alongside his cohorts.
“Mrs Adelugba has presided over parliamentarians and plenaries, with the majority of members present.
“She has announced the appointment of new principal officers and she has constituted all Committees of the House.”
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